First 5K in SEVEN years. Still disappointed in the time - I've been running much better than this. I did not walk until nearly the 2 mile mark, but the third mile was really rough and I walked quite a bit. The heat index was extreme, there was little shade and no breeze at all. I don't feel like I was very dehydrated, but I was also not hydrated enough. By the end of the race, the heat was pretty difficult to deal with.

I'm also trying to manage an injury to my left heel (turned it running barefoot outside a few weeks ago) which has been bothering me the past few days. It did not bother me too much during the race or after, but it was hurting a bit before and it remained on my mind. I don't know how much it affected my physical performance, but I was definitely concerned about it.

I think I might have gone out faster, though there was a pretty large crowd. I convinced Jeff to start further up than we were supposed to (they asked us to sort ourselves by time and the last group was :25/walkers, which was a little too broad in my opinion) and that worked out well. I also think that Jeff and I would have been better off running together, since we practically finished together anyway. We may have stayed in it mentally if we'd been next to one another. Instead, we both ran pretty poor times, although he gets a break since this was his first race ever.

Just walked around for five minutes or so before heading home. Also cooled off in the fire hydrant they had spraying near the finish line.


HEAT. Today was a day of excessive heat warnings and air quality alerts. It was hot yesterday, so even at 9 am it was in the mid-80s and felt warmer (right now it is 92/feels like 103). In areas, like the last mile, where there was little shade and the sun was beating down on the asphalt, it was really hard to keep myself in it.


This was a really nice race - well-organized and run very smoothly. I can't say much about post-race activities - we didn't hang around - but everything else went well. I'd definitely do it again, hoping for a more pleasant day!